The cards always reminded her of Therese and of the darker side of Therese no one else had known about. Only Adrienne had seen her sister kill animals outside the need for sacrifice. Therese had done it while learning black magic spells, which she once claimed was merely curiosity. As much as she loved and missed her sister, Adrienne also suspected Therese got involved in something she shouldn’t have.
The journal seemed to support her hunch. Therese was clearly influenced by magic when she wrote the nonsense.
Adrienne shook away her dark thoughts. She preferred to think of her sister as looking over her rather than dwelling on Therese’s interest in black magic.
“Will my first day of school be good?” she asked the spirits.
As she did every night, she drew one card to see what the next day had in store for her. She placed it before her then took a deep breath and flipped it over.
“The Star.” She smiled. “This is awesome.” The Star card normally meant a bright day filled with opportunity of some kind. She didn’t try to guess what, but she hoped it had to do with her singing.
Satisfied, she shuffled the cards and tucked them into a pocket of her backpack.
Devil. Death. Six of Cups. The cards from her reading earlier still haunted her, particularly because she didn’t understand why.
Chapter Three
Bright and early the next morning, Coach Higgins ran them until two guys threw up. Relieved they were able to stop, Jayden doubled over. A full head smaller than his six-four frame, Mickey barely looked winded as he stopped beside him.
Right about now, I wish Grandmama was right about someone putting me out of my misery, Jayden thought, panting.
“Grace wanted me to ask you if you’re over Kimmie enough to date,” Mickey said.
“What? Oh god, it begins again,” Jayden said. He straightened and accepted the water bottle Mickey held out. The early September humidity was made worse by the sunrise, a giant peach perched on the horizon. Jayden was soaked from shirt to socks with sweat. They’d been running for half an hour.
“Drills!” Higgins shouted. “Break up in teams. Washington, with the running backs. You’re too tall to be agile.”
Jayden rolled his eyes, but jogged over to the obstacle course set up for the small, nimble members of the football team like Mickey.
“Let’s dance!” Mickey said, darting and ducking invisible opponents. He pretended to score a touchdown and did his infamous Mickey shuffle.
Jayden watched, envious of his friend’s flawless footwork. Mickey’s feet didn’t seem to touch the ground when he moved. Jayden had superhuman reflexes but not speed, a combination he found frustrating.
“How tall’d you grow this summer?” one of the other players asked, looking up at Jayden.
“Four inches. Think I’m done,” Jayden said.
“Too tall to move like he should,” Coach Higgins complained. “You gotta be more active in the pocket, Washington. The defense can see your eyes now. They’ll predict you better, if you don’t learn to move faster.” He pulled out a stopwatch.
“I told you. Move faster,” Mickey echoed with a wink.
“Coach –” Jayden started to object.
“Go,” the coach ordered, holding up the watch.
Jayden jolted forward, not expecting the sudden command. He tripped through the first set of tires, eliciting a laugh from the more agile runners.
“Lift your clown feet, Washington!” the coach snapped.
Furious at himself, Jayden focused hard on conquering the rest of the obstacle course. He was panting again by the time he reached the end.
“Seventy-three seconds,” the coach called. “My grandmother can do it in half that. Again, Washington!”
Mickey was grinning as Jayden trotted past him. “Pretend like you’re running from Kimmie,” he whispered.
Jayden laughed and took his position at the head of the course. This time, he was ready for the coach. He shot off the line, concentrating on placing his feet and trying to emulate the easy dance that Mickey perfected.
“Eighty-one seconds!” Higgins said as he reached the end.
“What? Coach, there’s no way!” Jayden objected. “I was - ”
“Ready? Go!”
He bolted to the head of the course and started again.
“Sixty-eight.”
“Jesus, Coach, I think I need - ”
“Ready?”
Groaning, Jayden pushed himself through it three more times before the coach relented. He threw himself on his back, struggling to catch his breath. He sat up after a minute to watch the running and corner backs tackle the obstacle course. Each finished in under sixty seconds and made it look effortless.
“That’s how it’s done, Washington,” the coach told him. “Go throw the ball.”
Jayden climbed to his feet and trotted to the offensive line coach, who’d been a quarterback in five Super Bowls.
“You’re not that slow,” he said, smiling. “Higgins worries too much.”
“He’s … good at what he does, I guess,” Jayden said.
“You will be too, when I’m done with you,” his coach said. “You got a lot of expectations to live up to this year.”
Tell me about it. Jayden almost sighed.
“Forty push-ups, sixty seconds. Go.”
Jayden dropped. He pumped out fifty before the stopwatch sounded then sprang to his feet.
“Sprint, stop, whirl, throw!”
Jayden obeyed the commands, centered and focused with the drills in a way he never felt outside of practice. After twenty minutes, they started throwing the ball. His precision was flawless and had earned him the reputation of never missing a target. His increase in height gave him more torque, and he was pleased to find he could throw farther this year than last. Coach Higgins was right; his weakness was moving around in the pocket, staying on his toes and avoiding the attempts to sack him long enough for one of his RBs to make it into the open.
Mickey was his go-to on the team. The little guy didn’t miss a catch and could out dance any defender up against him.
They scrimmaged for the last half an hour, until Coach Higgins called for them to stop.
As they retreated towards the locker rooms, someone called out to him.
“Jayden, Mickey!”
They both turned to see the editor for the high school newspaper headed their way.
“Oh, god,” Mickey muttered. “You better do the talking. We know how these things go.”
“Hey guys,” the girl said, smiling. “We’ve been snapping pics for this week’s ezine. Any cool quote about what it takes to be the dynamic duo of football?”
“Sounds like we’re gay,” Mickey said.
She wrote it down.
“No, don’t …” Jayden gave Mickey a harried look. “Here’s a better one: it takes teamwork in all aspects of life to be successful.”
“Oh, that’s a good one,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “You both headed to LSU next year?”
“We’ll let you know as soon as we decide,” Mickey said. “I’m partial to southern girls.”
“Partial to southern girls,” the editor repeated as she wrote. “How about you, Jayden?”
“I guess I like southern girls,” he said with a shrug.
“No, I mean, are you signing with LSU?”
“I haven’t decided,” he replied, flashing his famous smile. It had the effect he hoped for. She blushed and looked down at her notepad. “You’ll be the first to know, okay?”
Flustered, the girl nodded.
They once again headed towards the locker room.
“Do you think she knows you were quoting the teamwork poster in our locker room?” Mickey whispered.